6. Time to Listen

Posted on September 12, 2009 by andrewmort

This is a simple, quite self-explanatory point, but one that we need to remember to remember. As independent musicians we need to actually listen to one another’s music. It sounds obvious and you might think I’m being ridiculous for saying it, but speaking from my own experience I realise that I often forget to actually listen to the artists I often converse with. I talk to them about how things are going, what’s happening with their music etc, but I don’t even spend the time to listen to the subject of our conversation! How can I be in a position to be genuinely interested in how everything is going if I don’t actually know what it is that I am asking about? I obviously don’t really care, or do I? I know that it is not just me because I’ve had experiences where I was on the other side of the conversation, with someone asking me about how things are going and wondering whether there was anything coming up that they could be involved. They tell me that they love what I am doing; this is of course always really nice to hear. A gentle massage of the ego is always a winner. So I would go on and talk about a song that they would have heard (if they had been on my myspace page like they said) and they would just stare blankly. It is another example of how often you enter a conversation to simply see what you can get out of it.

On the other hand, there have been times when I would turn up to a gig and speak to the other bands before we play, and they have obviously checked out myspace before and listened to who they are due to play with. This research then gives them something to talk about and it is so nice that they have taken the time to listen to you before they turn up. I must admit that this is something I had never really done, but I started recently and not only does it make the show more enjoyable (you know a few of the songs), it means that you have a point of contact before you even meet. It has also made me more excited in the run up to shows. If I listen to a band I am playing with and really dig what I hear they can become a key factor in the promotion of the gig. Let’s face it your friends and family have probably heard you countless times, but if you know there is another great band for them to come and watch you will feel a lot less abashed at encouraging them to come to another show. Even if it’s not your cup of tea another artist is far more likely to remember, enjoy and tell people about you if you have taken the time to listen to them and talk to them about what is really going on with their music.

It can be quite hard to get reviews from popular media sources; even local fanzines are inundated with submissions from unsigned artists. I have recently started writing little reviews about things that I hear and building up a little archive of people I have played with and songs I have listened to. It doesn’t take long to write a few positive words about a song or an artist you have played with. I might even start limiting myself to 140 characters and posting them on Twitter. It doesn’t really matter how, but I think it’s a great thing to do; it encourages others and disciplines myself into actually listening to the music of my contemporaries. If you would like to send me anything to review I would love to hear it. Send me individual tracks via Sound Cloud or drop me an email for details on postal submissions (reviews(at)atlumschema(dot)co(dot)uk):

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  • http://www.stevelawson.net Steve Lawson

    I think there’s a flip side to this, which is that of the expectation that people ‘should’ listen to you. Being ‘worth listening to’ and assuming that anyone and everyone ought to be compelled to listen to your music just because they’ve heard of you are two different things…

    Time is a currency, and as such the right to someone’s listening time needs to be earned. It’s also quite possible to be interested in the success and career of someone whose music you have little to no interest in… I have friends who really don’t like my music, and other friends whose music I don’t listen to at all. I’m still concerned about how they are doing, and wish them all the best, recognising that my taste isn’t the be all and end all of defining where people’s success lies.

    So how do I end up listening to people? I’ll investigate people who are interesting, in the hope that their music reflects that. Being told by an artist how good they are is rarely enough. I have a handful of friends whose recommendation I take v. seriously. Beyond that, it’s random :)

  • andrewmort

    Hey Steve. Yes, very good point. I guess the point i am trying to make is more narrowly defined through the role of a kind of insincerity that i have experienced with people ‘pretending’ to have listened to me and to have enjoyed my music when actually they have not, it therefore being an interest with a sort of ulterior-motive.

    But yes, time is certainly a currency, well put. I too have a lot of interest in many artists I don’t actually listen to, this is usually fed by the interesting and unusual ways they approach their art – there is often as much if not more inspiration to be drawn from this than from the product of the artist itself (if that makes sense). I guess this is similar to what actually gets you to listen to the music in the first place as you say you’ll investigate people who are interesting. Being told by an artist how good they are is often too much, and enough to put you off them if find! :-)

    Thanks for you thoughts, really interesting.

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